District to decide on reinstating student

Saturday

Nov 9, 2013 at 1:00 PM

By Dan CherryDaily Telegram Staff Writer

A closed-session meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 11, where the Adrian Public Schools Board of Education will decide on reinstating a sixth-grade girl at Adrian Middle School 5/6 who was recently suspended for writing out a “threat list.”

The girl was suspended “indefinitely” after a note she wrote contained names of students written in a hit-list fashion. After an investigation, the girl was evaluated by a psychologist and has been cleared to return to school, Superintendent Del Cochran said.

One of the parents of the students on the list, Mandy Toner, said Friday she does not believe the girl should be allowed to return to school until more evaluations can be done and school policies are strengthened to prevent future problems.

The hearing conducted by the school board to decide whether to reinstate the girl is scheduled for Monday. That meeting will be a closed session per Cochran’s direction, he said, so “we can communicate directly and effectively with the family and conduct business without interference.”

The parents can also request an open or closed session for such procedures, though most opt for closed sessions for the same reason expressed by Cochran.

The note that prompted the investigation was discovered by a custodian Oct. 24 and turned in to administrators, who said they immediately began an investigation. According to information released Wednesday by the Adrian Police Department, the handwritten note was labeled “People I’m going to kill,” followed by nine names.

According to the Adrian Police Department, the girl admitted to writing the note, “but said that she didn’t really mean ‘kill them.’ The note writer said that she was annoyed by the people on the list for things like saying her name repeatedly and repeatedly saying words improperly.”

Toner, whose son was one of the students on the list, said she does not believe the girl should be allowed to return to school “this soon.”

“You can’t do a fair assessment in that short of a time,” Toner said.

Toner said she would like to see two solutions come to pass at the local level.

“I don’t want to see the girl charged with any felonies,” she said. “We need to make sure (the girl) gets the help that she needs ... and we need to make sure our kids feel safe,” she said. “We need to make sure every student is protected.”

Toner said the schools and the state Legislature also need to adopt stronger anti-harassment and anti-bullying policies.

“You can’t write about killing people,” she said. “I’d like to see the school board update their policies to say it’s not OK to do this, it’s not OK to bully.”

Toner referenced other recent school incidents where students injured or killed their peers and staff, and said she does not want area schools to have to address a similar tragedy in hindsight.

“I just don’t want to see something like the Nevada shootings happen and then them say, ‘Well, maybe we should go back and look at the policies.’ ”

Cochran said the district will examine its policies as part of procedure and do what can be done to continue and further protect and enforce.

“We did things correctly per our (current) policy,” Cochran said Friday. “Some will agree; some will disagree.”

The case itself remains open and is currently at the Lenawee County Prosecutor’s Office for review and “for any potential criminal violation and prosecution,” according to the police department.